So, here you are thinking to yourself
"Woodie? Better than Maxwell? Impossible!"

While the veterans of DST wholeheartedly believe that Woodie is absolute garbage because he is completely outshined by Maxwell in every way, uh, they're just wrong.

While I can go through a list of how Woodie is actually a decent character, there are other guides for that, and this one is dedicated towards the strat I keep mentioning.

So, nonetheless, let's get to said strat!

• A Friend / Partner that knows how to kite. *
  
• A weapon higher than a spear (for your partner)
  
• Multiple Axes (for Woodie.) **

• Armor (for your Partner)
  
• Sanity Items (for recovering Woodie's Sanity when he is done.)

• Healing Items (For using in between beaver transformations if you were hit.) ***
  
• Armor for Woodie (Take off said armor right before you transform.)
  
  * It would be preferrable if your partner was a fighting-based character, like Wolfgang or Wigfrid, but any character works, except characters with damage nerfs, like Wendy or Wes.
  
  ** Having Multiple axes in your inventory means that you can transform into Beaver with the original Lucy, and when you transform back, you can use another axe to keep chopping wood (this axe will turn into Lucy.) Rinse and Repeat until you run out of axes, or trees, or friends.
  
  *** Healing items aren't really needed, because your partner's job is to prevent you from being hit.
  

Keep in mind that several axes are needed to keep the flow going.

1. Decide where to Transform.
   Im not going to explain the do's and dont's of where to turn into a Beaver, but it might be a good idea to think ahead on where you're going to. Keep in mind that you can even transform in a Rocky/Quarry biome and mine all the boulders as a Beaver, if there are trees nearby.
   
   
2. Chop Down Trees until you turn into a Beaver. Then gnaw as many trees/boulders as you can.
   Self-explanatory.
   
   
3. When you transform back, use a different axe from your inventory to continue chopping down trees.
   If you keep going back to use the same axe, you will waste time, and resources depending on how good your partner is.
   
   
4. Repeat 2 and 3 until you run out of axes, trees, or friends.
   Dont forget the fact that DST Woodie can regain sanity by planting pinecones. One stack will completely fill your sanity.
   
   
   Notes:
   Don't attack nightmares unless your partner is obviously not dealing with them properly. In this case, find a new partner.
   
   If a treeguard spawns, don't panic! Just kite it until it dies, then continue with whatever you were doing. Your partner should still be keeping nightmares off of you, so don't expect him to help you with the treeguard. The Treeguard's kite pattern is 4 hits.
   
   In the event of multiple treeguards at once, have your partner hit one and kite it around along with the nightmares while you deal with the other one. When the first one is dead, immediately take it off of your partner.

If you cant kite shadow creatures, you might not want to do this.

1. Bring spare armor and weapons (Preferrably a Ham Bat, if not then multiple Tentacle Spikes / Wigfrid Spears / Dark Swords)
   It's a bit awkward to have your armor/weapon break on you in the middle of a fight without a replacement.
   
   
2. While Woodie is a Beaver, keep all nightmare creatures off of him, by attacking them.
   This is the absolutely most important part of this strat. You have to keep every single nightmares' aggro on you and off Woodie. This is so The beaver can do it's job uninterrupted. Keep in mind that if you are sane yourself, the nightmares might de-aggro off of you and back onto Woodie. If this happens, make sure to hit them before they reach him.
   
   
   Notes:
   If you are sane, less nightmare creatures will spawn, which is either good or bad depending on how you look at it. You can do this strat both sane and insane.
   
   If a treeguard spawns, let Woodie take care of it. You should still try to keep nightmares off of him. Woodie shouldn't have to juggle both nightmares and Treeguards.

Yes, it's much much more safer to just play Maxwell and just go afk while your puppets chop away, and it doesn't rely on another player,
BUT
Nightmare fuel and Living logs are essential materials for mid-late game, and this strat can gather tons of said materials easily.

Yes, Maxwell can stay permanently insane, and yes, Maxwell can trigger more treeguards because he chops faster,
BUT
even though those 2 points can give him nightmare fuel and living logs, He can't get both materials at the same time, while this Woodie Strat can.


I'm not saying that "Oooooh Woodie is now better than Maxwell!" Maxwell is still good in situations where Woodie kinda sucks, and visa versa. They're different characters for a reason. But then, what was the whole reason of this guide?

What I'm trying to say is that, with this strat,

Woodie is now just about as good as Maxwell in resource gathering!

Yes, it requires teamwork, but that's the whole point of DST. Don't forget what the T in DST stands for, after all.

Maxwell still beats Woodie in the amount of logs one can get in a certain amount of time,
but Woodie can now get Living Logs and Nightmare fuel at the same time, which are very valuable materials in mid-to-late game. Maxwell can't really pull off the same thing.

However, this does not make Maxwell worse than Woodie, nor does this make Woodie better than Maxwell. In my opinion, both characters are now on par with each other.

Woodie still needs a buff tho.


If you have any counterarguments to this strat, please tell me in the comments. I want feedback. I might even make a dedicated section towards answering them.